Paranoia
by Enigma11
Summary: When Neo and Trinity were both 17 years old, they met eachother
1. Default Chapter

Author's Note: I don't own the Matrix

I came up with the idea for this story when I was writing a short story for my English class. It starts out with Neo and Trinity when they were younger before they were freed.(Rachel is the name of Trinity before she chose her name, and you'll find out what's wrong with Neo in future chapters)

***

Rachel never noticed him much before. He sat two sets of bleachers over from her and up a couple. Enough for her to have to twist her head a little to see him. He sat, arms on his knees and his hands clutching a CD player in between his legs. She followed the cord up to the headphones that were nestled on his ears, his espresso brown hair covering them up. His head bobbed up and down slightly to the beat of whatever music he was listening to. His eyes were closed, and occasionally he squeezed them tight, not out of habit, but as if he were trying to get something out of his head. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he stared directly at her. As she continued to hold his gaze, his slow, even breaths started to become short, ragged pants. His eyes shifted all over the place until he hung his head, squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth together. Now, from where Rachel was sitting, where she could only hear the faint slapping of the snare drum that came from his CD player, she heard an uproar of music. The bass didn't carry, only the treble, which made the song sound fake. Like it came from a clock radio. Rachel kept watching him. Wondering to herself if she should get help, when his breathing returned to normal, his teeth unclenched, and he finally turned down the music, returning it to the faint slap of a snare drum she heard before. He let out a long sigh and his shoulders slumped. His head started to turn, to see if she was still watching him. She snapped her head foreword and concentrated on the basketball hoop on the far side of they gym. She brought her hand up to her left cheek and traced her fingers down a large scar that began at her cheekbone and ended at the corner of her mouth. She wondered if that was the reason for what just happened. She had always gotten some sort of response from her face. People would make eye contact for a brief second and then look away, or they wouldn't look at all. She'd get a few "Oh my God, what happened to you?" and then an "I am so sorry," after she told them. But nobody had done what he just did before. Maybe he was squeamish. Rachel sat with her left cheek in the palm of her hand until she was allowed to leave. She watched the seconds tick by on her watch until the minute hand reached 4:30. Detention was over. Rachel and the boy both got up at the same time. He bounced down the bleacher stairs and briskly walked toward the gym doors, mouthing the words of his song to himself. He halted at the doors, and without turning around, muttered the words, "I'm sorry." After that he was gone. Rachel picked up her backpack and sauntered down the bleachers, head parallel with the floor, knowing that she had scarred him. No pun intended. She let out a long sigh and pushed open the gym door and left.

***

Rachel walked slowly through Jackson Park aimlessly. It had become a new habit of hers. Every day, she found someplace different to be. It was always easy to find someplace new to go in the city. Today it was through Jackson Park on a beautiful drizzly day. She'd been out so long that the hem of her pants were wet and the weight of the water made her hair hang limply in front of her face. She approached a basketball court and sat down at one of the picnic tables surrounding it. She pressed the palms of her hands to her forehead and grabbed the hair at the top of her head. She kept thinking about how that boy reacted to her the day before. _'Don't be ashamed of it Rachel, you're beautiful,' _Rachel heard her mothers voice in her head._ 'No one's going to care about a mark on your face.'_ But her mother was wrong. Voices of her so-called friends flooded her head. _'Ew, Rachel, what is that _thing_ on your face?' 'Are you suicidal Rachel?' 'You might want to put some makeup on that.'_ _'Masochism anyone?' _Every single one of them, their voices dripping sarcasm. Each one deserted her when she needed them most. 

There was someone dribbling a basketball on the court next to her. She didn't look over to see who it was. There was the sound of the basketball smacking the backboard, and the swish of it going through the chain hoop. They kept this up for a while. *smack* _swoosh._ Rachel noticed that they never missed a shot. She lifted up her head and looked over to who was playing basketball. She rolled her eyes at who she saw. It was the guy from the bleachers from the day before. He still had his headphones wrapped around his ears, and the cord trailed to the CD player that was buried in the front pocket of his jeans. Rachel grunted and raised herself from the picnic table. She walked over to the boy with every intention of venting her anger on him. She wanted him to feel like shit. But a voice in the back of her head halted her slightly. _'He _did_ say that he was sorry.' _Rachel pushed that thought to the back of her mind. He still shouldn't have done what he did. He didn't even know her. She focused her eyes on him. A bomb could have exploded next to her and her gaze would never falter. "Hey!" she barked. The boy stopped in mid shoot and looked over in her direction. He grimaced and squinted his eyes, as if to block the sun. But the sun wasn't out. She was now face to face with him. Small raindrops were caught on his eyelashes, but he blinked and they shook off. He was breathing a little heavier than normal. But that was either because he had been playing so much, or he was nervous. His eyes were focused on something behind her but she didn't turn her head to see what it was. "What was yesterday about? Why the hell did you do that?"

He blinked a couple of times, never looking at her. "I… I said I was sorry." 

His eyes darted behind him for a split second. He was thinking about running away. But Rachel wouldn't let him. "Is it because of my face? Are you disgusted by it? Or do you feel sorry for me like everyone else does?" Rachel couldn't believe she was pushing it this far. But she felt like pushing it. 

"No, it's not because of your face. I admit, I _was_ a little disturbed by it. And _no_ I _don't_ feel sorry for you because what you're going through is _nothing_ compared to what I'm going through," his voice grew louder with every sentence.

Rachel's face softened a little and she added in a quiet voice, "then what are you going through?"

The boy let out a short laugh, "why do you care so much?"

Rachel went silent. Really, why _did_ she care so much? "I don't know," she replied.

"Yeah, you don't," he retorted. "A scar on your face is nothing compared to a scar on your life." He stood there, occasionally squeezing his eyes shut, or clenching his teeth together, or turning up his music for a little but then turning it down again. "What's your name anyway?"

Rachel stared into his eyes, whose never met hers. He had never looked at her once. "Rachel," she said uneasily. She paused. "What's yours?"

For the first time, he stared into her eyes for half a split second. She caught a glimpse of some twisted pain in them. "Thomas." He picked up his basketball, turned around and walked away.

---


	2. Flashbacks

_"I must admit. I don't see a case like this very often. It's very rare that someone would constantly think that their thoughts were available for everyone to hear. When did this start?"_

"A couple of months ago. He started humming to himself to keep himself from thinking. He's always searching for something to distract his thoughts."

"Is there anything that you think could have triggered this in Thomas?"

"Not that I know of."

"Are you sure?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"Kids like this don't develop a disorder like this out of no where. There's usually other factors helping it. Like a home life that is, shall we say… not up to par?"

"Are you saying that I abuse my son?"

"I want to find out what's wrong with Thomas as much as you do. And that involves asking any and every question there is."

---

"Hello Thomas, take a seat," Mr. Mayer said. A seven year old Thomas stood timidly in the doorway, small headphones around his ears and a Sony tape player playing music into them. "It's ok Thomas, I'm not going to bite." Thomas took small steps into the big office and took a seat in a large red leather chair. He sad cross legged with his hands clutching his tape player in his lap. Mr. Mayer got up from where he was sitting and extended his hand to Thomas's head in attempt to remove the headphones from his head. "How bout you take these off so you can hear me better." Thomas closed his tiny hands over his ears and shook his head side to side, making it hard for Mr. Mayer to get them. But he finally did, and with some effort, managed to pry the boy's hands from his tape player. Mr. Mayer sat back down at his desk and looked over at Thomas. His palms were pressed into his eyes and he was softly humming the tune to 'Row Row Row Your Boat.' "Why do you do this?" Mr. Mayer asked in an inquisitive voice.

The humming stopped for a second. "I don't want you to hear what I'm thinking." After he said that, he returned to humming.

"So you block out your thoughts so no one can hear you?" Thomas nodded but never stopped humming. "Why do you do it?"

"I don't know."

"Do you have trouble at home?"

"No."

"You can tell me if you do you know."

"I know. There's no trouble."

"Ok," Mr. Mayer said in an unconvinced voice.

There were a few moments of silence. Thomas had stopped humming but he was fidgeting in the chair. "Can I have my tape player back please?"

"Sure."

---

Thomas closed locker number 101 when he heard footsteps behind him. It was unusual. He had his headphones on and the sounds of the busy school should have drowned out the footsteps. He turned around and was faced with Rachel. "I'm sorry about yesterday," she said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "I was a little pissed."

"Don't worry about it. It happens," Thomas replied.

"If you don't mind me asking. What happened that day?"

"It's just a disorder I have. Nothing I can't control"

"Okay." Rachel started to walk away when she heard Thomas's voice from behind her. 

She turned around and looked at him. This time he looked into her eyes. "Meet me here after school. I want to show you something." Rachel nodded a little and walked down the hall. 

---

"Where are you taking me?" Rachel asked Thomas as she followed him down the street. He didn't answer though. His music might have been too loud. Soon he stopped in front of an apartment building. He opened the door and led Rachel up three flights of stairs to his apartment. No one was home. Thomas turned on the lights and Rachel noticed that the room was very well kept. Everything was clean and tidy. "Come here," he said, moving his head to the far side of the room. There was a closed door. She followed Thomas to it, and he opened it. What she saw were piles of CD's all over the room. His desk was filled with black CD's and there was a computer right in the middle. There were some on the ground and on his bed and on his stereo. "What is this?" Rachel asked.

Thomas sighed. "I have this… disorder. I always think that other people can hear my thoughts. I know that in reality they cant, but it's something I can't get rid of."

"Is that what the music is for?"

"Yeah. I listen to it to distract me. When I freaked out on you, it wasn't because of your face. I was just trying not to think."

Rachel paused. She had a dumbfounded look on her face. "I…I don't know what to say?"

"It doesn't matter. I just thought that you should know what happened."

"Thanks." She gave him a half smile. It was somewhat of a smirk. It was the first smile he'd ever seen from her. "I bet you want to know what happened to me."

"If you want to tell me. You don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, I do." 

---

_Rain poured from the sky like Rachel had never seen before. The second she stepped outside she was soaked to the bone. Her house was 7 blocks away. She had no car, no money for a cab, and everyone in the house was too drunk to give her a ride home. Rachel hated alcohol. She wished she hadn't gone to the party. She knew it was going to rain but she had gone anyway. Now she had to run home. She started to run, her Old Navy flip-flops spraying water everywhere every time her feet hit the puddle soaked pavement. Her hair was hanging in wet tendrils and her makeup ran down her face, making her look like a raccoon. A bright flash filled the sky and thunder clapped somewhere in the distance. Rachel shrieked a little, but kept running. She was almost home when lightning struck a telephone wire, making a spray of sparks fall around her. The wire flailed around like an aggravated snake. Rachel waited until it was as far away from her as possible. When it was, she started running as fast as she could. She thought she had made it when she felt a blinding pain across her face and lower back. Rachel screamed and brought her hand to her face. There was blood on her hands and dripping down her face. She felt blood seeping down her legs from her back. The pain was so terrible that she staggered halfway down the block. She was one block away to her house. The blood was getting in her mouth and down her shirt. The pain was blinding her eyes and she heard a loud ringing in her ear. The rain seemed to fall even harder as she managed to make it the rest of the way to her house. She tripped up the steps to her house and fell through the door. "Mom!" she screamed. Then everything went black._

---

"…It hurt like hell. The scars never went away." Her voice had changed. It was sad and lonely, though no tears left her eyes, she felt like crying. But she was stronger than that. She looked back up at Thomas. He didn't have his headphones on anymore. "Why'd you take your headphones off?"

He took a step forward and took her into his arms. Rachel stiffened a little but soon she relaxed. It had been so long since she had been hugged. "There's something about you. It's like… it doesn't matter if you hear me or not. I've never had that happen before." 

Rachel smiled against him and when he let her go, she glanced at her watch. It was 4:47. "What is the Matrix," she whispered barely audible for anyone else to hear. 

"What?" Thomas asked in a confused voice.

"Oh shit. Oh _shit_. Thomas, I've got to go," Rachel said in an urgent voice. "I'll see you tomorrow okay?"

"Uh…yeah, okay."

Rachel took off out the door. She didn't know why she said she'd see him tomorrow. She had a feeling that she wouldn't be coming back.


	3. Wake up

Rachel burst out the door of Thomas's apartment building and sprinted down the street as fast as she could. The words 'Do not be late' echoed through her head. They were words that belonged to someone she had only talked to on the internet. Though she couldn't hear the voice behind the words, they sounded like they belonged to someone she didn't want to disappoint.

---

_Member 13077 has entered private chat_

Guest 1764: Welcome Trinity.

Member 13077: How do you know that name?

Guest 1764: I know more about you than you think.

Member 13077: Like what?

Guest 1764: It's not important now. I need to make this as brief as possible.

Member 13077: Well I'm here. What do you want?

Guest 1764: I want you to be free.

Member 13077: What?

Guest 1764: How do you know that you are typing at a computer right now?

Member 13077: Because I can see it. If it's there, it's real.

Guest 1764: Appearances can be deceiving Trinity. What if I told you that your mind has deceived you for the past 17 years and will continue deceiving you until the day you die?

Member 13077: I'd say you were crazy.

Guest 1764: Quite the contrary. It is all a part of what you have been searching for, for quite a while.

Member 13077: The Matrix?

Guest 1764: Exactly.

Member 13077: Fine. Then prove it.

Guest 1764: Meet me tomorrow in the lobby of the hotel on 42nd street at 4:45 PM. Do not be late.

Guest 1674 has left private chat

---

Rachel threw open the door of the hotel. She heard the cocking of a gun being aimed at her head, and a voice at her side. "The rabbit finally makes it." 

Rachel turned her head slowly to look at who the voice belonged to. It was a woman with spiked black hair, black lipstick, and was dressed in all black leather. "What is this?" Rachel asked. Her fear channeled through her voice, making it shaky. She had been set up. It wasn't Morpheus that was online the day before. 

"This is the beginning of the rest of your life," the woman answered. 

She pushed Rachel lightly on her back so she started to walk foreword, still keeping the gun to her head. Rachel went were the woman led her. They passed down the hall and through a door and into one of the hotel rooms. When inside, she was met with a man dressed similar to the woman. Black leather, black sunglasses. "Thank you Jade." Jade nodded and walked away. Morpheus turned to Rachel. "Hello Trinity. My name is Morpheus." He extended a hand out, and Rachel let out a sigh of relief. She shook Morpheus's hand as he led her toward a table with two ratty red leather chairs facing each other. A cup of water was sitting in the center of the table. "Please sit down." Rachel sat, and Morpheus took the seat across from her. "I see that you're afraid. You're trying to hide it, but it's there. There's no denying what's there, especially when it's right in front of you. You know about it. It's there in your hand, but you can't grasp it. And most people can't. They have to see it."

"See what?"

"The truth." There was a long pause. Rachel said nothing. She stared at her own reflection in Morpheus's glasses, knowing that his eyes were staring back. "Do you know what truth I am talking about?"

"The Matrix?"

Morpheus gave her half a smirk before beginning again. "Have you ever felt that you don't belong? That life just passes you by, making it impossible to believe that this is the life you're living? That it's all an illusion?" Rachel gave him a small nod and he continued. "It's all a dream Trinity. It's a program designed to enslave the senses and to put you in a dream world where you can't tell whether you're awake or not. The truth is you're not awake. Do you want to wake up?"

The curious look on Rachel's face got more intense. "Yes."

"Good." Morpheus opened his hand to reveal two pills. One red and one blue. "You have a choice. You can take the blue pill, which will take you back to where you were and you can believe whatever you want. But the red pill will wake you up to the truth. Once you make this choice you cannot reverse it. Once the pill is swallowed you cannot go back." Rachel's mouth went bone dry. A shiver shot up her spine as she extended her hand and took the red pill out of the palm of his hand. She put it in her mouth, and swallowed it with a gulp of water. She looked at Morpheus. This time she didn't try to mask her fear. She didn't know what she had just done. Morpheus stood up. "Come with me." He led her to a door, where Jade was standing. She opened the door and the three of them went inside. 

When they were inside, Morpheus walked over to another woman at a computer. "How's she doing Flare?" he asked her. 

"The effects should start kickin' in in a few minutes," she replied, never looking up from the computer.

"Effects?" Rachel asked, looking up at Morpheus.

"Just relax," came Jade's voice at her ear. Her voice was much softer than when she had spoken before. She led her to a chair where her arms and legs were bound to it. Electrodes were placed on her neck and arm. "What's this for?" Rachel asked.

"So you don't go running off." That comment made Rachel even more nervous. She looked around at the room. There were more people around, sitting at computers, occasionally looking at her and then back to the screens. Rachel felt a chill shoot up her spine and spread out through her entire body. 

Rachel heard the meow of a cat in the next room. It nudged open the door, revealing its long gray body. It meowed again and leaped up onto Rachel's lap. There, it curled itself up in a ball. Rachel stared at it, and after a while, it seemed to collapse. It's body turned into a silver liquid that dripped slowly down her legs. It crept up her body, covering it as it moved up. She could feel it numbing her skin as it continued up her neck. She looked over at Morpheus and Jade, but their faces and everything around them seemed to swirl together. She could feel it creeping up her face, gluing her lips together so she couldn't scream. She felt it on her eyes, slowly closing them. She knew that as soon as her eyes were closed she wouldn't see this world again for a long time.

---


	4. Missing

She hadn't been in school for a week now. The fact that she wasn't made it extremely difficult for Thomas to concentrate on anything. His volume of his music was increasing with each day. The only way to calm him was to think about her. But he couldn't think about her. They could hear him. It kept getting worse and worse after she ran out his door six days ago. It got to the point where he anticipated hearing his alarm clock waking him up every morning and telling him it was a new day and he would see her in a few short hours. And now she wasn't there and Thomas was left bouncing his knee and tapping his pencil on his notebook. 

He had already gotten detentions in all of his classes for not paying attention or that other people could hear his music through his headphones. Even though he was alone, the detentions on the gym bleachers reminded him of her. Sometimes he could almost see her there. Her long chestnut brown hair covering her face, arms on her knees, looking at the clock. It was at those times when he could turn his music off, even for a second, and just think. 

_'I've seen her around before. It was just a couple of months ago that she hung out with all the self proclaimed 'popular' people. She used to wear makeup, and her hair was done some new way every day. She'd probably still be that way if she never went to that party. As soon as she came back to school, the shallow bitches deserted her because she 'destroyed her beautiful face.' I guess it shows you who your real friends are.'_

Thomas jumped as the bell rang. The clock had just hit 4:30. Thomas grabbed his stuff, turned his CD player back on and went home.

---

Thomas opened the door to the apartment building and found his mother sitting at the table reading the newspaper. Thomas's parents were gone before he woke up and came home after he fell asleep. One of them would come home to retrieve a forgotten cell-phone or work files once and a while._ "Things are going to be different. I promise,"_ his mom's voice echoed through his head. "What are you doing home so early?" he asked.

His mom turned around and smiled a little. "I just felt like…coming home early,' she answered.

Thomas shrugged his shoulders. "Okay."

"Hey, how's school going? Are you concentrating enough?"

Thomas scoffed. It had been years that he has had this disorder, and his mom was asking about it now? "Yeah, it's been the same every day," he answered.

"Okay," she replied, and then got up from her chair. She folded the newspaper in half and placed it back on the table. "Well, I have to get back to work. I'll see you later." She walked over to him and gave him a hug. Thomas rolled his eyes sarcastically and hugged her back. "I love you kiddo."

Thomas laughed. Even after being away from the house and him for so long there was still a mother inside of her. He let go of her and replied, "I love you too." She gave him one last smile and was out the door. 

Thomas eyed the newspaper on the table and picked it up. There was the usual things, like car wrecks and who won the last baseball game. But something caught his eye. There was a small article at the bottom on the page. The headline read: MISSING TEEN REMAINS UNFOUND. Under the headline was a picture of Rachel. The picture must not have been recent. Her face was flawless. Not a scar in sight. Thomas's eyes widened as he read the article. 

_The search continues for 17 year old Rachel Knight who disappeared one week ago today. No evidence has been found, and police have no more leads on her whereabouts. . . No one knows where she might have gone. . . Family members have been notified. . . Disappeared without a trace. . . If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of Rachel Knight, call. . . _Thomas noticed that he had been holding his breath. He let it out fast, rustling the newspaper. He let it fall to the ground. He felt numb. He knew she wasn't going to be found. The last thing she said to him sounded like she was in trouble. _"Shit. Oh shit. Thomas I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow okay?"_ And the way she ran down the street made it seem like she was running for her life. For all he knew, she was. And whoever was chasing her had gotten to her.

---

Sorry it's been a while, and that this chapter is so short. I've been sick and have had a lot of homework lately.

Da Buffster, I'm not sure if you got my email or not, but if you didn't, you can use Rachel as a name for Trinity


	5. What is real?

Rachel bolted up from a bed and was greeted with metal and wires all around her. The only thing human other than herself was a girl with bleached blonde hair sitting on the edge of her bed. She looked a little older than Rachel, maybe around 20 or 21. "Relax," she said to a panting Rachel. "It's okay. Lay back down." Rachel did as she was told. Neither of them spoke a word until Rachel's breathing slowed. "Morpheus told me to wait with you until you woke up," the girl said, breaking the silence. "He didn't want you to have to go through this alone."

Memories of what she had been through flooded through her head. They were fragmented, but what was there was as clear as day. The hotel, the pill, the cat, the liquid. Then nothing. She could barely remember anything from before she talked to Morpheus. Something happened between her being in that room, and her ending up here. "How did I get here?" she asked.

"You don't remember?" the girl asked with a puzzled look on her face. Rachel shook her head. The girl shrugged her shoulders. "They say that birth is the most traumatic experience one will ever go through." She paused. "So traumatic, even, that the mind can't accept it and blocks it out of all memory. It's ironic. Te best thing that will ever happen is the thing you will never remember."

"What?"

"When is your birthday Trinity?"

"May third."

"Wrong. Your birthday was six days ago. For your mind, it was the worst thing that could ever happen to you. But it'll adjust. If the worst is over, things can only get better." With that, she stood up. She stood at the door and added one more thing. "You should get some more rest. You've been through a lot." Then, she opened the door and was gone. 

Rachel laid back down and pressed her palms into her eyes. Her fingers rested on her hair. Or where her hair should have been. She ran her hands over the stubble on her head. Her hands made their way to the back of her head. Near the base of her skull, she felt cold metal. She traced her fingers lightly over it. The skin around it was so sensitive, that even with her light touch, she could feel pain shooting out from where the plug was. Rachel noticed that there were plugs all over her body. On her arms, back and above her breasts. Rachel started to lie back down when she heard the latch on her door open. She bolted upright and saw Morpheus in the doorway. "What's happening to me Morpheus?" she asked him.

"Come, I'll show you," he replied.

Rachel got up. The heavy boots she had on made a loud clunk on the floor as she stood. They started to walk down a hall in silence. Rachel broke it. "What happened during the last six days? I can't remember anything."

"You were born. In a sense. We took you to the medical lab and rebuild the muscles that had atrophied over the 17 years you were plugged into the Matrix."

"Plugged in?" Rachel asked. "What does that mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough." They had entered a large room. Crew members were standing by equipment. They all stopped and looked over at Morpheus and Rachel as they entered the room. "This is my hovercraft, called the Nebuchadnezzar. This room is the Core. And this is my crew. You know Jade," he said, pointing in the direction of where Jade was standing. He then pointed to the girl that Rachel had met when she woke up. "And I believe you've met Switch." Switch gave a small smile, and a nod. Morpheus then walked over to a man sitting at a chair in front of a mess of computer monitors. "This is Driver, our operator." He moved onto a girl. Her hair, like everyone else's was cut short, and was wearing a ratty, threadbare shirt. Rachel noticed that was what everyone on the ship was wearing. Including her. "This is Flare. She's the mechanic on the ship." He moved on to three men standing next to each other. He put his hand on their shoulder as he said their names. The first one was Exe, the weapons expert. The middle was Control, and the last one was Dozer, who dealt with the healthcare on the ship. 

After Morpheus had introduced Rachel to the crew, he took her to the cockpit. Rachel looked out the window at the rubble that was the world. "What is this place?" she asked.

"This is the earth," replied with a hint of sadness in his voice. He gestured for her to sit in one of the chairs. They sad, and he continued. "Centuries ago, man made the machine. Designed to make life easier, they kept improving these machines; making them smarter and more advanced; making them more human. Eventually, the machines surpassed human knowledge and strength. Knowing that they were superior, they took over the human race. Humans made their last attempt to stop them. They blocked out the sun, and put an eternal storm in the atmosphere. What you see out there is their failed attempt to destroy the machines. They took humans and harnessed their energy for their own benefit. So no one protested, they put them in a dream world that looks exactly the way to old world looked like. But what humans don't know is that they're all here, and that what they think is real, is nothing but a dream." Morpheus noticed the puzzled look on her face. "I'll show you."

He and Rachel got up and she followed him to the Core. Switch sat her down in a chair. Morpheus had sat down in the chair next to her. "This is gonna feel strange, but relax," Switch said.

Rachel felt a dull pain as something pumped the plug in her had. When she opened her eyes, she was in a white place. There seemed to be no floor, ceiling, or walls. Morpheus appeared next to her. "This is the Construct. It's a computer program like the Matrix where we can load anything we want. If you've noticed, you're appearance is that of what you looked like before you were unplugged." A mirror had appeared in front of Rachel. Her hair was down to the middle of her back again. She had her jeans and sweatshirt on again. And she still had a line of puckered skin extending from her cheek to the corner of her mouth. She felt the back of her head for the plug, but it wasn't there. "It is what you believe it to be," she heard Morpheus's voice from behind the mirror. 

"This isn't real?" she asked.

"Your mind makes it as real or as fake as you want it to be. But the truth is, you are still sitting in that chair on my ship." By then, the mirror had disappeared, and all that was left was Morpheus and Rachel standing across from each other. Rachel let out a sigh. Her life had been a lie up until six days ago. In a way, she was relieved. 

Rachel opened her eyes and was faced with the crew members staring down at her. She felt something being removed from the back of her head. Exe helped her up from the chair. "Come on. I'll take you to you room." 

"Thanks," Rachel said.

Exe opened the door to Rachel's room, and Rachel collapsed onto the bed. Exe sat down on the bed and rested his arms on his knees. He held something in his hands. Rachel eyed it, and he handed it to her. "You deserve to see what you really look like."

In her hand, Rachel held a rusty mirror. She looked at her reflection. Her hair had grown about a quarter of an inch. But what fascinated her was that she had no scar on her face. "It's gone," she said, looking up at Exe. 

Exe let out a small laugh. He looked over at Rachel. "It was never there." He paused and got up. "Get some rest. You'll need it tomorrow. Trust me." Rachel put her head on the pillow as Exe walked out. 

Rachel had never existed. A dream had given her that name. She wouldn't be controlled by a dream anymore. Rachel was dead. Trinity was Rachel no more.


	6. Popups

"If you could choose between a prison for your body and a prison for your mind, which one would you choose?" Mr. Mayer asked Thomas, who was lying down on a couch with his eyes closed, mouthing the words to the song he was listening to.

"Prison for my body," he replied without a moments hesitation and without opening his eyes.

"Why is that?"

Thomas paused for a moment, and thought. "Because the mind controls the body. If the mind is free, then so is the body. But if the mind is imprisoned, then so is the body."

"Interesting answer," Mr. Mayer murmured while jotting down some notes. "Now your mother said to me that you recently lost a friend. Would you like to talk about it?"

"I didn't lose her," Thomas said. "She disappeared. You say it like she died."

"You know that a lot of people that disappear aren't found."

"But there's always hope that she will be."

Mr. Mayer sighed and flipped through some files that were on his desk. "Were you with her the day she disappeared?"

"Yes."

"Did she seem depressed, or overly excited."

"No."

"Did she say anything to you before she left?"

"Yeah, she said something about a matrix."

"Really?" Mr. Mayer looked up from his files, looking very intrigued. "What did she say about it?"

"Nothing much, she just said the phrase 'What is the Matrix?' and ran off."

Mr. Mayer shuffled the papers on his desk into a neat pile and put it in his briefcase. "I'm sorry Thomas, but I'm going to have to cut this session short today."

Thomas sat up and turned off his headphones. "Why? Is there something about the matrix that you know about? What is it?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about. She probably forgot about some algebra homework she had to do. Goodbye Thomas." The door shut behind him leaving Thomas alone in the room. He looked over at the clock. There was supposed to be an hour of the session left. He left the room with the question Rachel asked burning in his mind.

---

At one in the morning, Thomas sat in front of his computer. He had been looking up words containing the word matrix for hours. All that came up were sites on how to solve equations using matrices, and hair styling gel. He typed in 'What is the matrix' once more into the search engine and got the same results he had gotten the other times he typed it in. Thomas groaned and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. What did Rachel mean by the matrix? He knew it had to be more than a forgotten homework assignment. Suddenly, he heard a ping on his computer screen. Someone had sent him a message.

"I take it this isn't a homework assignment. Where'd you hear about the Matrix."

"A friend"

"Is your friend with you now?"

"No"

"He disappeared didn't he?"

"She. And yes. How did you know that?"

"Personal experience. I myself am searching too. You might want to try looking for Morpheus. I heard that he knows more about what we're looking for than anyone."

"How do I find him?"

"."

There was another ping, signaling that whoever was talking to him had signed off. "Thanks a lot," Thomas muttered sarcastically under his breath. He leaned back in his chair again and closed his eyes. He heard his parents come in the apartment and head straight to their room. Thomas wondered how they could function normally with the minimal hours of sleep they each got every night. Thomas's eyes got heavy and he closed them, not intending for sleep to take him, but it did.

---

Sunlight poured in Thomas's room, waking him up from his sleep. He was still in the same position he was in at one in the morning. The clock said 7:24. He had to get to school in six minutes. He moved the mouse on the computer table and woke up the computer from its slumber. He went to the start menu, intending to turn off the computer, but as he did it, the cursor moved across the '.' that the person had wrote to him. The cursor made the hand symbol for a split second, but enough for it to catch Thomas's eye. He moved it over the period again. The hand popped up again, signaling that the period wasn't just a period. It was a link to a website. As soon as Thomas clicked on it, his monitor was bombarded with popups, each containing a headline that had the name Morpheus in it. '_To hell with school_,' Thomas thought. He was going to read each and every one of the messages, no matter how long it took.

---

sorry its been so long. i'll try to keep this story going, but the updates wont be very close together. the wait probably wont be this long either


	7. Crack

"I met with him today. He wants to know the truth."

"How much does he know?"

"Barely anything. Someone he was close with was freed a week ago and he wants to know why she disappeared."

"How do we keep him from knowing the truth about what happened to her?"

"We will give him what he desires most in life. What he has never had."

"But that could kill him."

"There is a chance of that happening, but if he does die, he will never have a chance of knowing the truth."

---

Dim fluorescent lights lit up Trinity's small room, waking her from a light sleep. All through the night she had drifted in and out of restless sleep. When she did sleep, her head was filled with dreams of her life and about her past that never happened before. They were so tangible that she could have sworn that they were real, but every time she got close to them she woke up to the metal and wires that made up her room. Trinity lifted up her wrist to see what time it was, when she remembered that there was no watch on her wrist. She didn't even know if time existed in this place.

The metal door unlatched and opened as Exe entered. "Morning Trinity."

"Morning," she replied.

"How'd you sleep?"

"Not so good."

"It's expected. You'll sleep better soon. Anyway, Morpheus wants you up now. We got stuff to do. Places to go, people to see"

"Who are we seeing?"

"The Oracle."

"The who?" Trinity asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You'll see. Get up, we gotta go."

Trinity got up off the bed and followed Exe, ignoring the head rush that blurred her vision. She followed him into the Core, where Morpheus was standing. Control, Flare, Jade, and Switch were already in chairs plugged into the Matrix. "Good morning Trinity," Morpheus said. Trinity gave him a half smile. Morpheus led her to an empty chair and sat her down. "When you wake up, you'll be met with my crew members that are already in the Matrix, Exe will follow shortly after you. They'll show you where to go."

"Okay," Trinity replied.

Trinity felt pressure in the back of her head and felt her eyes get very heavy. She let her eyes close and when she opened her eyes, she was staring into the faces of the crew. She looked around and saw that they were in a large room and they were surrounded by a phone. Everyone was wearing black and wearing sunglasses. Including her. Exe appear next to her, followed shortly by Morpheus. "Switch and Exe, come with me and Trinity. The rest of you, stay here and guard the lines. We'll be back soon." They stepped outside and into the light and onto the sidewalk were a car was waiting. Exe got in the drivers seat and Morpheus got in the passenger seat. Trinity and Switch got in the back. Exe started the car and drove down the street. They sat in silence until the car stopped in front of an old apartment building. "Trinity, come with me," said Morpheus as he got out of the car.

Trinity opened the door and followed Morpheus into the building. "So who is this Oracle?" she asked.

"The Oracle is a woman who will help you find out your purpose in this world. She will give you choices and you can decide which ones you want to make."

"What choices did she give you?"

"I found you didn't I?"

The conversation ended as they stopped in front of a door. Morpheus opened it and led her into the back of the house, past children watching television and playing with toys to the living room where the Oracle was sitting in a chair. "Hello Trinity, take a seat." Trinity sat down. The Oracle then looked over at Morpheus who was standing in the doorway. "Thank you Morpheus," she said with a smile. Morpheus nodded and shut the door, leaving them alone. "So you're the one that's gonna do it. I must admit you weren't what I was expecting. How old are you Trinity?"

"I'm seventeen, almost eighteen, or at least I was."

"You're so young. It's amazing that you're going to define you're life at such a young age."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Do you know everything?"

"Not everything. But you could say I know enough. I know what's certain, so I know what events lead up to what will eventually happen. And you will have to make a choice to do something important for Morpheus, and you will choose to do it for him or not. You are part of a much bigger picture Trinity. The choices you make will eventually lead up to you're purpose."

"What is my purpose?"

"That is for a different time. It's something you don't need to know now because it's too early. Just know that we will be meeting again."

The Oracle got up from her chair and opened the door for Trinity. Trinity walked to the door, stopped in the doorway and looked at the Oracle. "Thank you," she said.

"Your welcome," the Oracle replied with a warm smile on her face.

Morpheus was waiting outside the door as Trinity stepped out of the Oracle's apartment. The Oracle's words echoed in her head as they walked down the hall.__

You will have to make a choice to do something important for Morpheus, and you will choose to do it for him or not

---

Switch and Exe waited in the car for Trinity and Morpheus to come out. Switch looked at him in the rearview mirror. He looked nervous. "What's up with you?" she asked, a small smirk on her face.

"Nothin," he replied.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

There was a long pause. The Switch broke the silence. "It's Trinity isn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Please. Even before she was unplugged, you were watching her on the computer. Now that she's not a piece of green code anymore you can't take your eyes off her."

"Bullshit."

"It is not and you know it."

"I don't even know her."

"But you want to don't you," she said right in his face with a big smile.

"Shut up Switch," he said laughing. "Here they come."

Morpheus and Trinity appeared out of the apartment building and got in the car. "Welcome back," Switch said. "How'd it go?"

"It was ok."

"She confused the shit out of you didn't she?"

Trinity let out a small laugh. "Yeah."

They arrived at the building where Jade, Control, and Flare were waiting. Morpheus pulled out a cell phone. "We're ready," he said into it. An old fashioned phone was sitting on a table in the room where the crew was. It rang, and one by one, they answered it and disappeared. "You're turn," Morpheus said to Trinity. The phone rang and she picked up. She hesitated before putting it to her ear, but when she did, she felt the world get very far away and turn to black.

Her eyes opened and she was back on the ship, having Dozer pull the needle out of her head. She was about to get up when Driver stopped her. "You're not gonna need to get up, you're gonna be in that chair for a while."

"How come?"

"You've got learning to do."

Morpheus came into the core to check up on Driver and Trinity. "How's she doing?"

"She got done with the operations programs hours before she should have. She's on the martial arts training programs now, but she devoured every bit of information in the operations programs. I don't have any more chips to download into her."

"Let her finish with the martial arts training and then let her go to sleep. I'm going to start training her tomorrow."

"So soon?"

"I believe she can."

---

Trinity opened her eyes. She was drenched in sweat from the martial arts she was doing. "Hey," Driver said to her. "You did a good job. Get cleaned up and go to bed."

"I need to ask you something first."

"What is it?"

"Is there any way I can look for someone in the Matrix from here?"

"Who do you want to look for?"

"A friend."

"Morpheus wanted you to go to bed, but I guess I can let you see someone. I'm only gonna let you do this once though." She got up from the chair and stood next to Driver, who was typing on the keyboard. "What's their name?"

"Thomas," she said. "I don't know his last name."

"Where does he live then?"

"In an apartment on 37th street."

Driver typed a few things onto the computer and up came a video of Thomas. "We usually look at people from the code, but since you can't read it yet, you can look at this. I'll be back in ten minutes." Trinity sat down in the chair and looked at the monitor. Thomas was sitting in his computer chair undoing a knot in his headphone cord. The clock on his wall told Trinity that it was 5:32 PM in the Matrix. She didn't know what time it was in the real world. She whished that she could see him again but doubted that they would let her. She watched him undo the knot and get up to go onto the computer. But as he sat down, three men, all dressed in suits and dark sunglasses barged into his room. They grabbed him and threw him to the ground face down. He tried to get away, but they were too strong. One man took something out of his suit and put it to Thomas's head. Thomas's entire body started convulsing and then went limp. The man put the device back in his suit and he and the two other men calmly walked out of his room. Trinity stared in shock at what she had just seen. Whatever they had done to him, it seemed to have killed him. She got up from the chair and turned around quickly and bumped into Driver. "What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said quickly. "It was nothing." She brushed past him and went to her room.

---

"Wake up." Someone was shaking her. "Trinity, wake up." Trinity's eyes snapped open and she was greeted with Switch's concerned face. "You were screaming, what's wrong?"

All throughout the night, the three men and Thomas's limp body haunted Trinity's dreams. "I just had a really bad nightmare."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No not really."

"Ok then. I also came in to tell you that Morpheus wants you up now, he wants you to go to the Core" Switch got up and left while Trinity got off the bed.

She got to the Core where Morpheus was standing. "Trinity, I hold in my hand, extremely powerful and challenging hacking programs. I need you to lay down in a chair while I download these into you."

"What is this for?" she asked, as she laid down.

"You're familiar with the name IRS database."

"Yeah."

"The reason you were unplugged is because I need you to crack it."


End file.
